Women switch to online platforms to sustain business in quake zone

Özge Esen- HATAY

Female producers from several fields in the southern quake-hit province of Hatay have switched to e-commerce platforms to keep their businesses running as part of the normalization process after the devastating earthquakes.

In Hatay, which experienced the most severe destruction in the quakes, a considerable number of people moved to settle in other provinces, while the survivors in the region are trying to hold onto life by maintaining their pre-quake occupations.

In order to normalize life, those who did not leave the region have returned to their jobs and continue production.

Female producers, who are on the front lines of this struggle in the quake zone, have started selling their products through e-commerce websites.

As part of the “Every Order, One Support” project of Hepsiburada, the leading e-commerce platform in the country, 400 new female entrepreneurs from the quake zone started selling their products on the platform in March.

The producers increased their total sales volume to over 25 million Turkish Liras ($1.3 million) last month.

As of April 10, a total of 1,650 female entrepreneurs and women’s cooperatives in the quake-hit areas continue to sell their products on the platform.

“We started this business by making jam at home just like our grandmothers. With 33 women, we produce and sell our products in a single workshop under the roof of a cooperative. Like everyone else, we were severely affected by the disaster, but with this campaign, our orders have increased,” said Lora Çapar, the head of Vakıf Village Women’s Cooperative.

Dilek Tecerli, the founder of Neşeli Mutfak, an organization offering local food, stated that she decided not to leave the city and was able to continue her business.

Stating that they grow thyme in the Altınözü region, Tecirli said, “A total of 500 decares of thyme is planted. But it is no longer sold as some wholesale tradesmen who bought the product lost their lives, while others left the city.”

“There are a few people left doing this job. When the physical environment collapsed, e-commerce came to the rescue for us,” she expressed.

Serra Nalçabasmaz, running a 150-year-old olive business of her family, stated that e-commerce has been a ray of hope for them to return to life.

“Currently, we can only do business online. It will take time for us to stand up in our downtown business,” she added.